Ahmadinejad a Hero for Arabs -Jeffrey FleishmanIranian President Ahmadinejad has transcended national and religious divides to become a folk hero across the Middle East.
Ahmadinejad's appeal is especially strong in Egypt, where he is compared to the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose bold, yet doomed, vision of pan-Arabism in the 1950s was also aimed at stemming Western influence.
What's striking in Ahmadinejad's case, is that the leader of a non-Arab Shiite nation has ingratiated himself with the Middle East's predominantly Sunni Arab population.
(Los Angeles Times)
1 comment:
The actual article appears pretty well balanced and exposes that these feelings are not universal. While Israel may be hated but will have to be tolerated, is one thing. That the U.S. is so reviled because of actual abuses and arrogance is why anti-US rhetoric is such a persuasive tool for Ahmadinejad. It's amusing to read about Arabs thinking that they need nuclear weapons because of the threat posed by Israel. If Israel was more like Iran, or probably most of these nations, it would have nuked Iran and others by now, despite the consequences afterward. Israel needs to keep doing what it is doing; taking out near nuclear capability from its enemies before they are able to cross the threshold. However, the US needs to look more like a great benefactor and less like a threat and bully.
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